Archives

If you have enjoyed the last 8 years: the failed economy, the highest unemployment rate since 2003, invading a country based on false information, the erosion of our civil liberties, then be my guest and vote for these two.

You deserve another 4 years of the same crap.

One of the most frightening indications of the direction our country has taken isn’t thousands of miles away in some strange country we have occupied or are about too. Its right here in the USA and it was on display in the actions of thousands of police unleashed to handle demonstrations at this years Republican National Convention in Minneapolis. Maybe we can expect journalists to be jailed and beaten in Iraq. Maybe we can read about prisoners being tortured with black hoods over their heads in Abu Ghraib. Perhabs we can know about citizens being accused of terrorist acts for helping to plan protests in Fallujah. But all of this occurred and was documented outside the Xcel center where the Republicans announced their acceptance to the general election. It is the new face of homeland security in the privatized era of neo-conservative ideals. While Sarah Palin was busy bad mouthing community service, the police were doing a disservice to the community by indiscriminately using tear gas, rubber bullets, concusion grenades and mace on a few protesters with different political ideologies and wearing black bandannas. Knocking down newspaper boxes and blocking traffic is called: civil disobedience and should be dealt with by a procedural non-violent arrests. Instead it was brutal oppression by a militarized police force who think they are fighting insurgents in Afghanistan. An abusive display of violence which harmed innocent bystanders, accredited journalists and anyone who got in the way of a law enforcement and national guard rampage gone wild.

Now why did bikeblog report so much on these conventions when this is supposed to be a blog dedicated to the bicycle? Well, I’d love to report on warm and fuzzy stories like bike sharing programs at these gatherings…but it just doesn’t seem important when my fellow citizens and friends are being abused, chased, attacked, beaten and arrested. Sorry, I just can’t be silent. And besides I like to follow up on things.

So here is a wrap up report from I-witness video. A dedicated group of citizens, armed with video cameras who go to demonstrations to document police activity.

Hello folks,

Here is an overview of what the members of I-Witness Video saw andexperienced over the past week or so in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Regards,Eileen Clancy

for the I-Witness Video Collective

————–

Violence and cruel treatment directed at protesters by police;Journalists targeted for arrest, harassment, intimidation and surveillance

Police Violence in the Streets

The members of I-Witness Video have been appalled to see a high level ofviolence directed against peaceful demonstrators, medics, legal observersand journalists at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul,Minnesota.

In particular, pepper spray was used excessively and indiscriminately totorment and punish demonstrators in a manner that violates widely acceptedlaw enforcement standards. In one instance a man was pepper-sprayed whilehandcuffed and then punched in the kidneys. Peaceful demonstrators havebeen restrained and forced to kneel on pavement for hours after beingpepper sprayed without being given medical attention. In another instancewhere pepper spray was used to preemptively punish a person who wasperceived by police to be a protester, a lone street medic was enteringher car when police drove up, sprayed a small fire extinguisher sizedcanister of pepper spray into her car, completely soaking her head to toebefore driving away, leaving her gasping for air and collapsing. Themedic was neither arrested nor charged.

The treatment of arrestees in the jails has been shockingly bad, evengrisly. Medical care has been withheld from many arrestees. In oneinstance a hemophiliac was offered gauze as treatment for a wound. ElliotHughes, a 19-year old arrested while bicycling, was forced to wear a bagover his head while being gagged and beaten. Hughes tells his story at apress conference: Youtube video

The punishment of arrestees did not end at the jailhouse door. In almostevery instance, the Sheriffâ€™s Department did not return any personalbelongings to arrestees upon their release. Many, including under-agewomen and girls, were put out in the cold in the middle of the nightwearing thin prison-grade shorts and a white t-shirt. Some were droppedoff as far as five miles away from the jail without their house keys, carkeys, cell phones, identification, or money. In some instances this meantthat they were not able to access critically needed medication.

Targeting of Journalists

Many journalists working during the period of the RNC experiencedobstruction, harassment and arrests. Thirty journalists were arrestedincluding reporters from ABC News, Fox News, and Indymedia. On September1, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, two producers from DemocracyNow! were slammed on the pavement and against the wall, arrested andcharged with a felony riot. Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman was alsoarrested and charged with interfering with a police officer. On September4 Kouddous was arrested again, along with Democracy Now! producer RickRowley.

Harassment of I-Witness Video

Members of I-Witness Video were visited by the FBI and a Wisconsinsheriff, were falsely arrested without charges being filed, underwent asearch under an invalid warrant, were threatened on the street by policeofficers, extensively surveiled by police officers with video cameras andfollowed by undercover officers.

Two days before the convention opened, St. Paul police surrounded thehouse we were staying in, effectively placing us under arrest for twohours. When a search warrant was finally produced, it was for the wronghouse.

When we declined to allow them to search our house under an invalidwarrant, they broke in and held us at gunpoint. We were handcuffed behindour backs and held in the backyard while the house and our belongings weresearched.

During the same period three other member of the collective were detainedwhile leaving the area on bicycles and two others in a car were pulledover and detained for four hours.

An excerpt of a video by the Glass Bead Collective shows the St. Paulpolice breaking into our house and pointing guns at us: video here.

In a sinister progression of events, police officers arrived at our officebuilding four days later with batons at the ready, carrying a batteringram and alleging that we were holding people hostage in the I-WitnessVideo office. A prompt response by National Lawyerâ€™s Guild attorneysthwarted further police action. The unfounded and absurd allegation bypolice that hostages were barricaded in our office could have allowed themto enter our office without a warrant and possibly even shoot us.5th.Please check our website for updates – we will continue to let you knowmore about the 2008 RNC and DNC as we investigate further.

But police brutality isn’t limited to just these big demonstrations, they happen all the time including at a concert last Friday, Sept. 5th in NYC.

There are Nader and McKinney running on OUR issues, they deserve props, not the ez pass to feel superior to republicans while the corporate puppet dems are doing worse. More repubs voted against the trillion dollar bankster robery than dems, I expect better of you.